The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures

Fadiman describes the experiences of Mao Thao, a Hmong woman, who in 1982 leaves her home in St. Paul Minnesota to travel to Thailand to visit a Hmong refugee camp called Ban Vinai, where she once stayed. Approximately 15,000 Hmong refugees attend Thao’s talk and question her about her experiences in the United States. Many of their questions focus on America’s healthcare system, revealing a negative view of Western doctors, whom they associate with cannibalistic practices.

Fadiman uses this cultural exchange to detail the differences between Hmong shamans and American doctors. The great distrust that Hmong feel towards biomedicine is evident in their infrequent use of Western healthcare services in the refugee camps. When given the option, they rely on Indigenous healing arts and view camp hospitals as inferior. Volunteers from Christian organizations often staff these hospitals and, to the displeasure of many Hmong, try to convert them to Christianity, often dismissing or denigrating their traditional healing practices in the process.

In 1985, ethnographer Dwight Conquergood designs a number of successful health campaigns in Ban Vinai. Fadiman credits Conquergood’s success to his anthropological methods. Unlike other Westerners, Conquergood lives in Ban Vinai and listens to the Hmong and their concerns.